It is Vision Sunday this Weekend!

Vision Sunday 2013Beyond Christmas and Easter, Vision Sunday is my favourite weekend of the year! It is our opportunity as a church to take stock, thank God and get energised for the year ahead! Victoria and I are feeling excited by what is coming. We have had lots of words from God and encouragements to keep going, to be expectant for what God will do, and to dream big for 2013.

This Sunday we will look at two fantastic verses; Ephesians 2:22 which speaks of God’s Spirit dwelling/living in the church and Romans 12:4-8 which exhorts us to be a body where every person has a part to play. The gist then is that as we play our role in the church, and with God infusing all that we do, we will see the church grow, mature and bring life to all who come.

It is always easy to hang on the edges of a church… they can be messy places… full of broken people like you and me! But God promises to build his church, to give us a role and to be present by his Spirit when we gather. Although it will always face challenges, I can think of no better community to give my life to serving and loving. The scriptures say where the Spirit of God is, there is life! That is what I want to be a part of. Let me offer an invitation to you to join us at Manly Life this Sunday!

Lance Armstrong, Sin and Starting Again

ImageWho would want to be Lance Armstrong right now? The seven time champion of the Tour de France cycling race has found his life in tatters after revelations of systematic drug cheating surfaced. For someone with so much, it has all now come crashing down. Last week he begun the work of redemption by confessing all to Oprah on primetime TV. For many, it is too little too late.

Last Sunday we looked at church at Hebrews 12:1-3 that encourages us with so many heroes in the faith (admittedly many of them sinful men and women), to run our race with perseverance, throw off the sin the entangles and to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. I couldn’t help but thing of Lance Armstrong while reflecting on this passage. 

The writer of Hebrews calls us to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us. It is interesting that sin is called the thing that stops us from living out our faith, our dreams and our calling. It is sin that catches up with us after having done a great job of entangling our life in a mess. I reckon Lance Armstrong must be feeling this right now.

The thing about sin is that it hinders the full life that we were created to have. It is often a short term fix for a longer term need – and it usually catches up with us causing pain for both us and those around us. All of know the painful sting of the wrong things we do coming back to haunt us. So we need to hate the sin in our lives – seeing it as the poison that holds us back from health. Note here that we aren’t to hate ourselves but to hate the sin and get rid of it. Whether it is lust, unfaithfulness, greed, cheating, selfishness… hate it enough to renounce it and ask God to give you new life.

Of course the thing that makes this possible is when we instead turn our gaze away from ourselves towards Jesus. We are called to fix our eyes on Jesus who is the author of our faith and one bringing us to perfection. I bet Lance Armstrong would now rather have come 2nd of tried to win honestly in the Tour de France. But at the time I bet the pressure to cheat would have been huge – particularly if lots of others were too. Our own ability to do good feels limited in the face of temptation… but if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, it makes all the difference.

The outworking of the Gospel is the possibilities of new life that we have if we keep our gaze fixed on Jesus. Indeed with his Spirit at work in us we are told that all kinds of new fruits emerge… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, self control and so on… These are the things that lead to a full life. The result of our repentance and turning to Jesus is forgiveness and a new master – one who leads us on a better path!

I feel for Lance Armstrong because all of us are prone to sin, to cheat, and to get caught up in our own mess. The writer to Hebrews though is clear… get rid of the sin, fix your eyes on Jesus and then begin this remarkable new adventure of faith – the best race that could ever be marked out before us.

What Makes a Church Alive?

acts 2Last Sunday was truly buzzing at Manly Life. Most of the church turned up to celebrate our first 3 months as a community. People were engaged in the worship, through the talk and in our ministry time at the end. Then everyone stayed around and ate together and sucked down slurpies. It was a great time of being a church, thick with the presence and love of God.

So what makes an alive church?

In Acts 2 after thousands have responded to Peter’s sermon we read about the life of the early church. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

As we dream, plan and walk in faith, we hope that the things that animated the early church will also animate our new church. Such was their experience of the love and power of God that they were devoted to the kind of life together that turned the ancient world on its head. They;

Were hungry to learn more about Jesus and Word of God.

Prayed to God and for one another and saw signs and wonders in their midst.

Shared their possessions and provided for the poor in their community.

Met together regularly, eating together, having communion and worshipping God.

They continued to grow as the Lord saved people and added to their numbers.

The church can get lots of things wrong and lots of things right… but to be honest it isn’t rocket science to work out what God would have us do and be as his people. If Manly Life can continue to be animated by the presence of God and have the same ingredients as the early church – we will grow in faith, hope and love!

Encountering Glory – Being Changed

gloryI have been living in 2 Corinthians 3 this last week in preparation for our Celebration Service this Sunday and have been blown away. What Paul claims is nothing less than if we turn to Jesus, the veil separating us from God will be taken away and we will encounter his glory – and be changed! Through the grace of Jesus and the power of the Spirit we are ushered into presence of God, nothing now separating us from the creator of the universe!

Glory is an interesting word in the scriptures. It means weightiness – hence the glory of God is his presence, his weight, his character that leaves a mark. In the OT Moses encounters the glory of God and has to veil his face when he meets with the people. It is too much even though it is ultimately fading glory. The astonishing claim through Jesus is that this veil gets taken away and we can fully encounter the glory of God. And it is this weightiness that we often encounter when we gather and we worship. The Holy Spirit comes and we feel the  glory of God pressing down on us – revealing his presence to us. It is a joyful ecstasy to know God in this way, and if we are open to his Holy Spirit coming and revealing himself to us, we can enjoy the very presence of the living God.

Why does this matter?

Because it gives us hope and it encourages us to be bold. Hope because we now have face to face access to God just like Moses did, but in an even more extraordinary way. 2 Corinthians 3 suggests that it is in this encounter that leads to freedom and being transformed into God’s likeness. Think the fruit of the Spirit being formed in us – his character, his power, his peace. And boldness because we are now assured of who God is and what we are called to do. Simply we are to carry and give away this glory!

This Christmas get to know the glory of God. In John 1 it says we have beheld his glory – and it is full of grace and truth. Through the Gospels we read of people meeting Jesus and being changed. Sinful men and women like you and me. The veil is taken away – they encounter glory and are changed. Sickness is healed, evil spirits are cast out, good news is received, circumstances are overcome. And thankfully this is not just a history book – it is the same stories that emerge today in our churches.

How have you encountered the glory of God this year? Has it brought hope, has it changed your life, has it made you bold? Go with peace to love and serve the Lord!

Confusing Charismatic with Contemporary or Missional ministry

I have a passion to see churches minister in the power of the Holy Spirit. I draw a lot of strength from the ministries of John Wimber and the Vineyard, the New Wine network of churches and HTB and the Alpha Course. In our city of Sydney though there seems to be a confusion about, and suspicion of what exactly charismatic is. Just the other day a friend told me about how their church was on the more charismatic end of their denomination. All he could point to though was occasional raising of hands in worship and contemporary music. While that is a fantastic thing, it is not to be confused with charismatic expressions of church and ministry.

Before I get to what I believe is the difference between charismatic and contemporary, let me state why I believe it is so important that the church moves more effectively in the power of the Holy Spirit. This was the source and type of Jesus’ ministry. While it is great that some churches want to be missional by being involved in sports clubs and schools and so on… to be truly missional is to do the ministry of Jesus like Jesus. For him this was proclaiming the kingdom through preaching, healing, casting out evil and doing miracles. We also need to be charismatic because this is how the early church was commissioned and acted in the first century. They continued the ACTS of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit throughout the world. Finally we must seek the power of the ministry of the Holy Spirit because I believe that is the truest expression of ministry today. While I affirm social justice and missional ministry, the stuff that I truly believe changes our communities and lives is seeing the ministry of Jesus happening today through his church.

On Tuesday night at Alpha a young guy from a Buddhist background had a strong experience of the Holy Spirit during the ministry time after a talk on healing. His question to me afterwards was how do I become a Christian? It was the power of the Spirit at work in him that is leading him towards wanting to follow Christ. What a joy to give him a bible and begin the walk of faith with him!

So here is just two common confusions between what is contemporary and missional and what is charismatic?

– A Christian befriending a person or community group is being missional… praying for them for healing or having a word of knowledge that leads to evangelism is charismatic.

– Waving your hands in the air to a modern worship band is contemporary… experiencing the power of his presence or being filled with His peace in worship is charismatic.

None of this is to downplay the importance of a whole range of ministries and ways of reaching out or being the church. My passion though is that we will be a body of believers who take the continuing ministry of Jesus, powered by His Holy Spirit seriously. We are to be lovers of his presences, seekers of his power and servants of his gospel – for the sake of the coming of His kingdom and the redemption of the world.

What do you think?